Malvern boys defeat East Canton in Inter-Valley Conference play

Malvern's Josh Untch dribbles up the court, being guarded by East Canton's Owen McCroskey (Photo: Chuck Cordes/Ohsfbmedia.com)

MALVERN, Ohio - Two hornets faced off against each other, and Malvern came out on top with a stronger stinger, defeating East Canton 67-48 in their Inter-Valley Conference game. 

"They gave us all they had," said Tucci.

In the early minutes of the game, very few points were scored, as both teams had three points apiece at the 5-minute mark of the first quarter. 

As the quarter progressed, an increase in scoring from both teams, as Jordy Harris of East Canton and Grady Barkley from Malvern, would put some scores on the board. Brennan Mitchell made an immediate impact off the bench for Malvern, contributing four points with 1:52 remaining in the quarter. 

"Well, they're a lot smaller, and we knew we had bigger guys than them, so we wanted to really enforce the paint," said Mitchell. 

Malvern would take a 14-10 lead into the second quarter. "Trusting my teammates to get me open, getting to my spots, hitting my shots, and Coach putting us in the right situations at practice all week," said Barkley when asked about what was working tonight.

East Canton would grab their first lead by the continued hot shooting from Jordy Harris as he would hit a big 3-point shot to put them up 15-14 with 6:00 left in the period.

"Well, we knew they wanted to play fast. A lot of times we don't get very good dance partners because everyone wants to slow it down against us, so we kinda welcome that," said Tucci.

Following an 18-18 tie at 4:35, Malvern would dominate, receiving contributions from Barkley, Mitchell, and Delonte Simmons, to establish a 31-23 lead by halftime. 

Grady Barkley goes up for a shot in front of Owen McCrosky, Aiden Kendel, and Jordy Harris. Barkley would hit five three-pointers on the night. (Photo: Chuck Cordes/Ohsfbmedia.com)

In the second half, Malvern was on cruise control as they began to wear East Canton down, as they were playing from behind and were just trying to shoot their way back into the game, as it would go back and forth. Rayshawn Heard would lead with most of the shots down the stretch. 

Malvern consistently maintained an aggressive tempo in their gameplay to retain the advantage. As frustration began to mount, Rocco Stefanick was called with a flagrant foul against Luke Thomas, resulting in him successfully converting 1 of 2 technical free throws with 40.5 left in the third quarter.

Malvern's Delonte Simmons maintains a loose ball during Friday night action. Simmons finished with 10 points for the game. (Photo: Gene Simmons/Ohsfbmedia.com)

By the fourth quarter, the game was out of reach as Malvern would begin to sub in bench players to finish the game, and East Canton's Owen McCroskey would foul out with 4:13 left in the game, as he was one of their best on-ball defenders. 

Jordy Harris snags a rebound during the game as teammates Owen McCroskey (2) and Rayshawn Heard look on. (Photo: Chuck Cordes/Ohsfbmedia.com)

Malvern would move to 6-1 overall and 4-0 in conference play and will play away at Conotton Valley on December 23. "They take basketball pretty seriously down there," Tucci elaborated.

East Canton falls to 2-2 overall and 2-2 in conference as they are set to play Frontier in an away game.

Grady Barkley 20 points, Brennan Mitchell 11 points, and Delonte Simmons 10 points. 

Malvern JV also won 62-41.